Today’s Ramble was led by Dale Hoyt.
Here’s the link
to Don’s Facebook album for today’s Ramble. (All the photos in this post are
compliments of Don, unless otherwise credited.)
Today’s post was written by Dale Hoyt.
Today’s Focus:
Looking at how trees grow.
22 Ramblers met today.
Today’s Ramble was led by Linda Chafin.
All the photos in this post, unless otherwise credited,
were taken by Hugh and Carol Nourse, former leaders of the Nature Ramblers.
Today’s post was written by Linda Chafin.
Today’s Focus:
The Rock and Shoals Granite outcrop.
25 Ramblers met today.
Today’s reading:
No reading today.
Announcements: The Garden is participating in a “Plantapalooza” plant sale this weekend (Saturday). Click here for the details and a link to the species offered.
Today’s route:
Ramblers met today at the Botanical Garden and carpooled to the Rock &
Shoals Natural Area off Barnett Shoals Road. Mid-April is peak blooming season
for the Piedmont granite outcrop specialties and endemics.
Piedmont granite outcrops are found from SE Virginia to
central Alabama, totaling about 12,000 acres, but 90% of them occur in the Georgia
Piedmont. There are approximately 5,000 granite outcrops in Georgia larger than
¼ acre. Unfortunately, only 11 of them are protected, including Rock and Shoals
(R&S), which is owned jointly by Athens-Clarke County and Georgia Department
of Natural Resources. Though small, R&S supports many of the
outcrop endemics and four rare species.
Today’s Ramble was led by Dale Hoyt.
Here’s the link to
Don’s Facebook album for today’s Ramble. (All the photos in this post are
compliments of Don, unless otherwise credited.)
Today’s post was written by Dale Hoyt with assistance from Linda Chafin.
Today’s Focus:
Orange Trail, from the Orange Spur bridge to the parking lot
18 Ramblers met today.
Today’s Ramble was led by Linda Chafin.
Here’s the link
to Don’s Facebook album for today’s Ramble. (All the photos in this post are
compliments of Don, unless otherwise credited.)
Today’s post was written by Linda Chafin.
Today’s Focus:
Dunson Garden and Silverbells on the White Trail Spur
27 Ramblers met today.
Today’s reading:
Eugenia read The Cleverness of Seeds by Pat
Brisson
Today’s Ramble was led by Dale Hoyt.
Here’s the link
to Don’s Facebook album for today’s Ramble. (All the photos in this post are
compliments of Don, unless otherwise credited.)
Today’s post was written by Dale Hoyt with assistance
from Don and Linda.
Today’s Focus:
19 Ramblers met today.
Today’s Ramble was led by Linda Chafin.
Here’s the link
to Don’s Facebook album for today’s Ramble. (All the photos in this post are
compliments of Don, unless otherwise credited.)
Today’s post was written by Linda, Don and Dale.
Today’s Focus:
Dunson Garden and the ephemeral pool on the power line RoW.
30 Ramblers met today.
Leader for
today’s Ramble, Dale
Today’s
emphasis: Lower Shade Garden, Dunson Native Flora Garden
21 Ramblers today even though the
temperature was only in the high 30s.
Today’s report was written by Dale, Don and Linda
Here’s the link to Don’s Facebook album with all the photos of today’s Ramble. (All the photos in today’s post were taken by Don, except where credited otherwise.)
Reading: Don read a passage from the book According to Season by Frances Theodora
Parker (also known as Mrs. William Starr Dana). From the chapter titled A
Spring Holiday:
The Nature
Ramblers book group is currently reading The
Most Perfect Thing: Inside (and Outside) a Bird’s Egg, by Tim Birkhead. The
book was published in 2016 and, as usual, science has progressed since its
publication. A new hypothesis has been proposed for one of the subjects
summarized in the book: bird egg size and shape. Birkhead
Several people have asked me to recommend books on “Nature Writing” for them to read. That started me thinking about what Nature Writing was and how I might categorize it. I soon gave up the task. There are too many ways to slice that cake. I finally decided to simply list the books that I remembered having read and then try to see what they had in common. I’m sure there are books that I have forgotten, but the list is long enough and I’m going to leave it as it is.
Merry Christmas everyone!
I came across a recent blog post with a Christmas theme that I wanted to share with you. It’s about Poinsettias — how they are propagated and how they came to look the way they do. Read it and you’ll see how their appearance is caused by an infectious agent called a phytoplasma and, along the way, you’ll find a lot of interesting information about the plant propagation industry.
Also, we encountered a phytoplasma earlier this year on our July 19th Nature Ramble. It even has a name: Aster Yellows. Take a look at the Ramble Report to see how the disease affects Purple Coneflowers.
While I have your attention I wanted to remind you that the Garden is closed this week, so we’ve decided to hold our informal social hour at Sandy Creek Nature Center this Thursday, Dec. 27, 2018, at 10 a.m. Coffee will be free and you can bring some snacks to share, but don’t feel that you have to. If the weather permits, we’ll take a stroll on one or two of the trails at the Nature Center after coffee.
Have a happy New Year!
Dale
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| Gingerbread Peeps before (below) and after (above) 15 seconds in a microwave oven. Happy Holidays! |